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SESSION – 1

My life, my decision

Warm Up Activity

Think and Write-

Write about your RIGHTS and RESPONSIBILITIES

MY RIGHTS MY RESPONSIBILITIES
Example I should let other people live the life they want. My
I can live the life I want decisions should not break the law

mind
money
mistakes

Essence of Making Decisions

What are decisions?

A decision is making up your mind about something. To make a decision you must have choices. You can make choices
every day about what to eat, whether to go out and what to wear. Some decisions are bigger than others, like choosing
to move to a new home or deciding what to do when you leave college.

It’s your right

Your rights are about how you should be treated. You should be treated the same as everyone else. You have the right
to make decisions about your own life. You also have the right to ask for help. Most people will ask for help when they
have to make a decision, especially if it is a big decision. You can ask other people you trust for information to help you
decide, or to help you think of your choices. You can ask for as much information or help as you need. This is called
supported decision making. The people who help you are called supporters.

Your responsibilities
As well as having rights you also have responsibilities. Responsibilities are about how you should treat other people.
Responsibilities are also about things you need to do for yourself, your family and your community. Sometimes, your
decisions will affect other people. You should tell other people about decisions that will affect them. You must also
follow the law. If you are not sure what the law says, you can ask someone to help you find out.
Think and Tell or Write
Can you think of a time when someone did not understand you or your decision? What did you do?

Talking about your decisions

When you talk with other people about your decisions, or the things you need and want, it is important that you listen
and understand each other. If you don’t understand what someone is telling you – speak up and ask them to explain it
better. If someone doesn’t understand you, be patient and ask for help. You could ask someone in your family, a friend
or a worker for help.

Remember

● Some people need extra help to talk, like using pictures or talking machines.

● You can ask for extra help to make sure people understand you.

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Making decisions: What do you want?

If you have not made any big decisions before, you can start by thinking about what is important to you in your life.
You can think about things you need or want to have a good life. You can think about things you want to change in
your life. You might want to change your working method or meet new people.
Answer this: What are some things you want to do?

How do you like to make decisions?

Everyone has a different way of making decisions. Some people like to decide quickly, while others like to take a long
time. You might like to think about the different choices before you decide.

Getting help to make decisions

You can ask for help to make decisions. Who do you want to support you to make decisions? You can choose anyone
you trust. The person you choose should know what is important to you and respect your choices. This person is
called your supporter. You could ask someone who helps you do other things in your life, like a family member, an
advocate, a friend, a carer or a guardian. You could have lots of people working together to help you make decisions.
This is sometimes called a ‘circle of support’ because everyone works together to support you to make decisions.

When you choose someone to help you make decisions, think about some someone who is good at listening and will
let you decide. Sometimes, you might want more than one supporter. Or you might choose different supporters for
different decisions. Some people have a group of supporters who work together, called a circle of support.

Making decisions with support: How it works

Once you have all the information about the things you want to do, you and your supporters can spend time thinking
about which is the best choice. You might talk to your supporter about how much each choice costs, or how long it will
take.

When you are happy with all the information you have found out, it is time for you to make your decision! This bit is
up to you – it’s your decision and your supporter cannot tell you what to do. Your supporter can talk about your
decision with you, to make sure you are happy with what you have decided.

After you have made your decision, you could ask your supporter to help you tell everyone who needs to know what
you have decided. You might want your supporter to write a letter or talk to other people about your decision. If you
have decided to buy something, your supporter could go with you to the shop to buy it.

Later on, you can think about how your decision worked out. You and your supporter could:

● Talk about how the decision worked and whether it turned out the way you wanted

● Think about what to do if you are not happy with the way the decision worked out

● Ask people in your life what they think about your decision

● Think about what you could do differently next time.

What about other people?

It’s your right to make your own decisions but it is good to think about how your decision might affect the people in
your life. You could talk to your supporter about this. You and your supporter could think about things like:

● Will your decision upset someone that you care about?

● Will your decision cost someone else money?

● Will your decision mean someone has to change the way they do things? If your decision is going to affect
someone else, you could talk to them about it and ask what they think.

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If you are not happy with your decision

If this happens, you can ask for help to change things. You can also think about what went wrong. You can talk to your
supporter about what to do if your decisions don’t turn out the way you want.

If you are not happy with your supporter

You should talk to someone else you trust if:

● Your supporter is making you feel bad about your decisions

● You and your supporter don’t agree on a decision.

Sometimes your supporter should not support you because your decision could affect them too much. For example, if
you are thinking about giving them money. Someone else should support you to decide whether this is the best thing
to do. The person you talk to if you have any problems with your supporter might be a family member, carer or a
colleague from a service you use.

My decision making worksheet

What do I have to decide?

What support do I need?

Who is the best person or people to support me?

What information do I need?

What are my choices?

Choice 1:

Choice 2:

Choice 3:

What are the good things about each choice? What are the bad things about each choice?

Choice 1: Choice 1:

Choice 2: Choice 2:

Choice 3: Choice 3:

Other choices you added: Other choices you added:

What is my final decision?

Who do I need to tell?

How did this decision turn out for me? (Write down your thoughts later)

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Effective Decision Making

Decision making is becoming the basis of competitive advantage and value creation for organisations. Improving
decision making could be the key to superior business performance if global markets give all organisations access to
similar resources and competition causes many business processes to converge on world-class standards. The quality
of decision making could become the key differentiator and link in the value chain as illustrated below.

The importance of decision making

The decision making process can be illustrated as a proposal considered by decision makers in the context of the
organisation and its strategic position. Alternatives, risks and potential outcomes are considered and then a decision
is reached. There may also be a post audit and a feedback loop. The decision making process is subject to human error
as the decision makers have personalities, prejudices and a self-interest bias. Importantly, they have different
attitudes to and appetites for risk.

There is an opportunity here for management to improve decision making through their role. An effective decision
making process:

● communicate this information effectively

● have an understanding of its relevance to the business

● share insights

● influence the decision

● manage the performance and risk effectively

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Governance

The board provides the overall enterprise governance of the organisation. This means that it exercises effective
oversight of both the conformance and performance aspects of the organisation. The formal planning process
provides the strategic context, brand values and budgetary constraints in which decisions are made.

Mindset
Decisions are taken in the general context of the organisation’s overall strategic direction, ethics and culture by
individuals with their own prejudices and attitudes in the context of the issue being considered. The potential impact
of prejudice in the organisational culture and people’s attitudes and behaviour cannot be underestimated.
Management can help to ensure that alternatives are considered properly and decision making is evidence based.

Issue Framed
This is a key step. Issues must be properly framed to balance a broad view with efficient focus. Appropriate parties
must be engaged. Stakeholders’ interests are taken into account in determining the objectives at this stage.

Information Assembling
This involves the provision of insightful information to describe the business’s current financial and competitive
position. Information is also assembled for a business proposal(s), the value for customers and the impact on the
organisation’s value chain. The risks involved require close co-operation or partnering with the business.

Alternatives Selection
Alternatives should be selected on the basis of evidence and analysis rather than personal opinions. Risks must be
identified as either ‘deal-breakers’ or issues to be managed. Management can facilitate unbiased, evidence based
decision making. They can provide consistent quantitative and qualitative analysis of the situation and proposals.

Decisions
The decision maker(s) should have the authority to take the decision. Role clarity and understanding is important
here so that decisions are reached efficiently and not delayed or swayed by other interested parties.

Manage implementation and impact

Managing implementation through to impact requires that the decision should be clearly communicated and the
expected outcomes reflected in performance management metrics. Quantifying or describing potential outcomes and,
if appropriate, the potential next steps after each outcome, will enable implementation to be managed and
appropriate action taken promptly. This will ensure that goals are achieved.

Feedback
Trial and error may be allowed as tactical experiments within acceptable risk parameters, but repeating past mistakes
should be inexcusable. The decision and matters considered should be properly documented for post audit or learning
purposes. The outcome of past decisions should be captured as part of the corporate memory to ensure that lessons
are learnt.

Decision making is, therefore, the selection of one best alternative for doing a work. It is a choice made by the decision
maker about what should and should not be done in a given situation.

According to George Terry, “Decision making is the selection based on some criteria from two or more possible
alternatives”.

Though there are many alternatives available to a manager, he has to choose the best out of them on the basis of the
above definitions.

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SESSION – 2

Types of Decision
There are many ways of classifying decision in an organisation but the following types of decisions are
important ones:

Type1. Tactical and Strategic Decisions:

Tactical decisions are those which a manager makes over and over again adhering to certain established rules, policies
and procedures. They are of repetitive nature and related to general functioning. Authority for taking tactical
decisions is usually delegated to lower levels in the organisation.

Strategic decisions on the other hand are relatively more difficult. They influence the future of the business and
involve the entire organization. Decisions pertaining to objective of the business, capital expenditure, plant layout,
production etc., are examples of strategic decisions.

Type2. Programmed and Non-Programmed Decisions:

Despite the far-reaching nature of the decisions in the previous example, not all decisions have major consequences or
even require a lot of thought. For example, before you come to class, you make simple and habitual decisions such as
what to wear, what to eat, and which route to take as you go to and from home and school. You probably do not spend
much time on these mundane decisions. These types of straightforward decisions are termed programmed decisions;
these are decisions that occur frequently enough that we develop an automated response to them.

The non-programmed decisions are complex and deserve a specific treatment. A crisis situation also constitutes a
nonprogrammed decision for companies. For example, the leadership of Nutrorim was facing a tough decision. They
had recently introduced a new product, ChargeUp with Lipitrene, an improved version of their popular sports drink
powder, ChargeUp. But a phone call came from a state health department to inform them that several cases of
gastrointestinal distress had been reported after people consumed the new product. Nutrorim decided to recall
ChargeUp with Lipitrene immediately. Two weeks later, it became clear that the gastrointestinal problems were
unrelated to ChargeUp with Lipitrene. However, the damage to the brand and to the balance sheets was already done.
This unfortunate decision caused Nutrorim to rethink the way decisions were made under pressure so that they now
gather information to make informed choices even when time is of the essence.

Type 3. Basic and Routine Decisions

Basic decision are those which require a good deal of deliberation and are of crucial importance. These decisions
require the formulation of new norms through deliberate thought provoking process. Examples of basic decisions are
plant location, product diversification, selecting channels of distribution etc.

Routine decisions are of repetitive nature and hence, require relatively little consideration. It may be seen that basic
decisions generally relate to strategic aspects, while routine decisions are related to tactical aspects of an
organization.

Type 4. Organizational and Personal Decisions

Organizational decisions are those which an executive takes in his official capacity and which can be delegated to
others.

On the other hand, personal decisions are those which an executive takes in his individual capacity but not as a
member of organization.

Type 5. Off-the-Cuff and Planned Decisions

Off-the-cuff decisions involve “shooting from the hip”. These decisions can be taken easily and may be directed
towards the purposes of the enterprise.

On the other hand, planned decisions are linked to the objectives of organization. They are based on facts and involve
the scientific process in problem solving.

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Type 6. Policy and Operating Decisions

Policy decisions are those which are taken by top management and which are of a fundamental character affecting the
entire business.

Operating decisions are those which are taken by lower management for the purpose of executing policy decisions.
Operating decisions relate mostly to the decision marker’s own work and behaviour while policy decisions influence
work or behaviour pattern of subordinates.

Type 7. Policy, Administrative and Executive Decisions

(a) Policy Decisions

Policy decisions are taken by top management or administration of an organisation. They relate to major issues and
policies such as the nature of the financial structure, marketing policies, outline of organization structure.

(b) Administrative Decisions

Administrative decisions are made by middle management and are less important than policy decisions.

The size of the advertising budget is a policy decision but selection of media would be an example of administrative
decision.

(c) Executive Decisions:

Executive decisions are those which are made at the point where the work is carried out.

Distinguishing between these three types of decisions in simple words

Policy decisions set forth goals and general courses of action, administrative decisions determine the means to be
used and executive decisions are those made on a day-to-day basis as particular cases come up.

Note: Decisions Commonly Made within Organizations as shown below

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SESSION – 3

For Non-Programmed Decision the major Elements

The main elements of decision-making are as follows

1. Concept of Best Decision

Rational decisions must conform the basic concept of good decision. Mentions three keys to rational decision-making:
(i) Conceptualization,
(ii) Information,
(iii) Prediction.
are the three main keys to rational decision-making. The problem should be thoroughly analysed and all possible
alternatives be folly considered.

Rational decisions require:

(a) Intelligence,
(b) Insight, and
(c) Lot of experience.

2. Organisational Environment of the Company

Organisation environment also exert great influence on decision-making. Some organisations believe in rigid
centralisation while others have faith in decentralisation and leave the routine decision-making function with the
departmental heads.

Further, in the interest of the company it has been suggested that the policy matter decision must be left with the top
management and leave the ordinary day to day routine matter decisions to the various departmental heads. External,
Social, Political and Economic environment also influence decision-making. But instable political conditions in the
country are not conducive to important decision-making.

3. Psychological Elements
In psychological elements personal traits like preferences, intellectual maturity experience, educational standard,
social and religious designation and status etc., of the person responsible for the decision-making also exert great
influence on decision-making.
Further in company the manager’s habits, temperament, social environment, upbringing domestic life and political
learning’s all have to trace his choice of alternative, consequently on his decisions.

4. Timing of Decisions
Decisions must be taken at the appropriate time keeping in view the prevailing conditions. Marketing aim should also
be taken into consideration and time required for achieving the aim. Any decision taken in time leaves a lasting
impression on the mind of those who are affected by the decision.

5. Communication of Decisions
When a particular decision has been taken it must be communicated properly in time to the persons concerned.
Decision should be communicated to the subordinate executives in a courteous, simple and understandable language.
There should not be any ambiguity in the language written. It should be in a vary simple language.

6. Participation of Employees
Participation of the employees in decision-making makes its implementation easier. Employees participation has
certain advantages and it ensures loyalty of the employees towards the organisation. It arouses the feeling of oneness
with the company and the decision taken are considered as superior. It helps in enhancing the efficiency of the
organisation which helps in attaining the goals of the organisation.

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Decision-making conditions

Case Study1
Our restaurants face customer complaints as a routine part of doing business. Because this is a recurring problem for
restaurants (it may be regarded as a programmed decision).

Solution???

In general there are three different types of condition under which managers take decisions.

The first condition is certainty, which means that the available alternatives and their costs or benefits are certain. In
other words, managers know with certainty that particular alternatives will lead to definite outcomes and there is no
element of doubt.

The second condition is risk. Under the risk condition, all available choices and their potential costs and benefits are
known, but the outcomes are sometimes in doubt. So, while the alternatives are known, the outcomes are unknown.
An example of a risk condition is the throw of a die: the alternatives (one to six) are known, but the outcome is not
known – there is a one-in-six chance of each number coming up.

The final condition is uncertainty, under which the available alternatives, the likelihood of their occurrence and the
outcomes are all unknown. Decisions made under uncertainty are the most difficult to take because of this lack of
concrete knowledge. Such decisions tend to be ambiguous, intangible and highly unusual.

Solution Case Study 1

To deal with this problem, the restaurant might have a policy stating that every time they receive a valid customer
complaint, the customer should receive a free dessert, which represents a decision rule. Making strategic, tactical, and
operational decisions is an integral part of the planning function in the P-O-L-C (planning-organizing-leading-
controlling) model.

Barriers to making good decisions

As managers attempt to make good decisions they are faced with many challenges and barriers. Decisions can be
framed either in terms of gains or losses, or by a reference point against which the various options can be evaluated. A
manager normally applies a decision frame to a decision. A decision frame refers to the perception held by the
manager in terms of gains or losses associated with the outcome of a decision. Consequently, the same outcome could
be viewed as a gain or a loss depending on the perception and reference point used.

For example, if an employee received a Rs1,000 bonus when everyone else received a Rs.2,000 bonus, should this be
viewed as a gain or as a loss? The answer depends on the individual and whether the reference point is the employee’s
original salary (gain) or a comparison with others (loss).

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Management Decision Making: Negative Scenario

In the mid-1980s Coca-Cola was the biggest-selling soft drink worldwide, yet the company decided to change the
formula and introduce a ‘new’ Coca-Cola to the market. The result was disastrous: consumers disliked the new
formula and preferred the old one. As a result, after three months the company had to reintroduce the old formula,
using the brand name Coca-Cola Classic. What events led to the company taking such a poor decision?

The decision was the product of a negative decision frame. Coca-Cola’s share of the market had been steadily declining
and the company’s options were to make no changes and continue to decline, or to take the risky option to change the
formula. In essence, the choice was between certain loss or risk, and the company chose the latter. As it turned out,
though, the decision the company made resulted in more short-term losses than anticipated.

SESSION - 4

Decision Making – 5 Major Benefits to Planning

While decision making without planning is fairly common, it is often not appealing. Planning allows decisions to be
made in a much more comfortable and intelligent way. Planning even makes decisions easier by providing guidelines
and goals for the decision. We might even say that planning is a type of decision simplification technique.

Decision makers will find five major benefits to planning:

1. Planning allows the establishment of independent goals:

When decisions are made to achieve some planned vision, manager finds himself steering the organization. When
decisions are taken in response to some external crises, like lowering sales in the market, the external forces steer the
management decision. By planning for decision, “management by firefighting” is replaced by a conscious and directed
series of choices.

2. Planning provides a standard of measurement:

A plan provides something to measure against, so that you can discover whether or not you are achieving or heading
toward your goals. As the proverb says, if you don’t know where you’re going, it doesn’t matter which way you go.

3. Planning converts values to action:

When you are faced with a decision, you can consult your plan and determine which decision will help advance your
plan best. Decisions made under the guidance of planning can work together in a coherent way to advance company
or individual goals.

4. Planning is useful in emergency situations, too:

When a crisis arises, a little thought about the overall plan will help determine which decision to make that will not
only help resolve the crisis but will also help advance the overall plan. Without a plan, crises are dealt with
haphazardly and decisions are made which may ultimately be in conflict with each other.

5. Planning allows limited resources to be committed in an orderly way:

Budgets, time, effort, manpower-all are limited. Their best use can be made when a plan governs their use.

A simple example would be planning to buy a house or a car. Rather than having to decide between buying the item
right now with all cash or never having it, you can plan to buy it over several years by making payments. Or, you might
combine this plan with the plan to buy a smaller house and add rooms later as they could be afforded. By planning you
can thus accomplish things that might otherwise look impossible.

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Nature of Planning

● Planning is goal oriented – Plans arise from objectives. Objectives provide guidelines for planning.

● It is a primary function – Planning provides the basis foundation from which all future management
functions arise.

● Planning is All Pervasive: Planning is a function of all managers. It is needed and practiced at all managerial
levels. Planning is inherent in everything a manager does.

● Planning is a Mental Exercise: Planning is a mental process involving imagination, foresight and sound
judgment. Planning compels managers to abandon guesswork and wishful thinking. It makes them think in a
logical and systematic manner.

● Planning is a Continuous Process: Planning is continuous. It is a never-ending activity. It is an ongoing

process of adjustment to change. There is always need for a new plan to be drawn on the basis of new demands
and changes in the circumstances.

● Planning Involves Choice: Planning essentially involves choice among various alternative courses of action. If
there is one way of doing something, there is no need for planning. The need for planning arises only when
alternatives are available.

● Planning is Forward Looking: Planning means looking ahead and preparing for the future. It means peeping
into the future, analyzing it and preparing for it. Managers plan today with a view to flourish tomorrow.
Without planning, business becomes random in nature and decisions would become meaningless, adhoc
choices.

● Planning is Flexible: Planning is based on a forecast of future events. Since future is uncertain, plans should be
reasonably flexible. When market conditions change, planners have to make necessary changes in the existing
plans.

● Planning is an Integrated Process: Plans are structured in a logical way wherein every lower-level plan
serves as a means to accomplish higher level plans. They are highly interdependent and mutually supportive.

● Planning Includes Efficiency and Effectiveness: Plans aim at deploying resources economically and
efficiently. They also try to accomplish what has been actually targeted. The effectiveness of plans is usually
dependent on how much it can contribute to the predetermined objectives.

Once a manager set goals and develops plans, his next function is organizing that are identified as necessary by the
plan to reach the goal.

Organizing – Coordinating Activities and Resources

Organizing involves determining how activities and resources are to be assembled and coordinated. The purpose of an
organization structure is to create an environment for the best human performance.

The structure must define the task to be done. The rules so established must also be designed in light of the abilities
and motivations of the people available. Organizing is deciding where decisions will be made, who will do what jobs
and tasks, who will work for whom, and how resources will assemble.

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Common Organization Structures

Managements need to seriously consider how they wish to structure the organization. Some of the critical factors that
need to be considered are −

● The size of the organization

● Nature of the business

● The objectives and the business strategy to achieve them

● The organization environment

● Functional Organization Structure

The functional structure is the most common model found in most organizations. Organizations with such a structure
are divided into smaller groups based on specialized functional areas, such as operations, finance, marketing, Human
Resources, IT, etc.

Geographic Organizational Structure

Organizations that cover a span of geographic regions structure the company according to the geographic regions they
operate in. This is typically found in organizations that go beyond a city or state limit and may have customers all
across the country or across the world.

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Matrix Organizational Structure

A matrix structure is organized to manage multiple dimensions. It provides for reporting levels both horizontally as
well as vertically and uses cross-functional teams to contribute to functional expertise. As such employees may belong
to a particular functional group but may contribute to a team that supports another program.

Divisional

Larger companies that operate across several horizontal objectives sometimes use a divisional organizational
structure.

This structure allows for much more autonomy among groups within the organization. One example of this is a
company like General Electric. GE has many different divisions including aviation, transportation, currents, digital and
renewable energy, among others.

The working relationships — vertical and horizontal associations between individuals and groups — that exist within
an organization affect how its activities are accomplished and coordinated.

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